New Hairbrush Brand Original Heir Has Arrived, and It’s Gorgeous
Beautiful hairbrushes are nothing new. Mason Pearson has been a dressing-table classic for more than a century, and La Bonne Brosse’s entire range is pretty enough to leave on display. But new brand Original Heir has entered the market, and it’s betting on more than its good looks, with brushes developed alongside an in-house hair scientist.
“We’ve become incredibly sophisticated about what we put on our hair, but we rarely question the tools we use on it every single day,” said founder Isabella Di Stefano. “The more I learned about hair science, the more I realised how much room there was to rethink the hairbrush itself. I wanted to create something that performed better, looked beautiful enough to keep in view and made people see this everyday object in an entirely new way.”
Di Stefano is something of a branding expert. She spent more than a decade working with names like Calvin Klein and Barbie, then founded ISA, the creative agency behind campaigns for MAC Cosmetics and Ganni. She’s also been colouring her hair blonde since she was 13, yet it took a career milestone photo, she says, to make her realise how out of touch she’d become with her own hair, and send her down a hair science rabbit hole.
For the science, she brought in bioengineer Sareena Karim. “Brushing involves friction, tension, static and mechanical forces, so the design of the brush matters,” Karim said. “Our goal was to look closely at those interactions and create tools that are more thoughtful about how hair actually behaves.”
Original Heir brings something a little different — gem-infused bristles designed to cut static, reduce breakage, and spread natural oils from root to tip. These are brushes made to be seen, too, with high-gloss chrome handles embellished with natural gemstones.
The brand has arrived with two travel brushes, aptly named Pronta (Italian for ‘ready’). Both fold completely shut, down to just 10cm, so the bristles (and any stray strands) stay tucked away. And unlike most travel brushes, they have a longer handle for easier, more comfortable brushing. It’s silver-plated, too, and the brand says it’s naturally antimicrobial. Pronta Smooth ($69) comes set with rose quartz and mixes boar and gem-infused nylon bristles, while Pronta Untangled ($59) is the detangling version, set with a howlite stone and featuring a cushioned base.
Two full-size paddle brushes follow in mid-November. Bella ($99) is a modern take on the classic boar-bristle brush, with nylon bristles added to tackle the static that boar bristles are known for. Doppio ($89) is designed to work on wet hair and carry on through to styling, giving you one brush for both jobs, and it has the same antimicrobial handle.
Pronta Smooth and Pronta Untangled are available exclusively in the US at originalheir.com.